The concept of work readiness certificates is garnering the attention of workforce and economic development officials in a growing number of states. A work readiness certificate is a portable credential that documents an individual's WorkKeys® scores for prospective employers. Most states have established certification programs that recognize three levels of skill attainment. Typical Employability Certificates are Bronze, Silver, or Gold. Bronze indicates an individual has scored Level 3 on Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information. Silver certificates are awarded to those who score Level 4 and Gold for individuals scoring Level 5 in the three skills.
Work readiness certificates:
- allow for a common statewide metric for basic skills
- document the basic skills of a state's workforce
- communicate skills to potential employers
- help target training to maximize development funds
- connect basic skills to specific careers and industry clusters
- enhance job seekers' portfolios.
States that have initiated work readiness certificate programs include Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Virginia. KeyTrain is used in all of these states to help prepare job seekers for certification testing. For more information, ask for your copy of Thinking Media's work readiness certificate white paper.
Certificate-KeyTM gives you the tools to manage a certificate program among various local training providers.
For Training Provider Professionals, Certificate-Key:
- Tracks clients who are involved in WorkKeys-based systems, including their WorkKeys scores and earned certificates.
- Manages and shares locally-defined certificates and job profiles results.
- Batch import clients from other management systems.
- Makes lists of clients who have WorkKeys scores and certificates available to other local training providers and employers.
- Finds lists of clients who meet the requirements of job profiles or openings from local employers.
- Provides for safeguarding individual client contact information if desired.
- Determines which learners in their area are ready to be assessed in order to earn a work readiness certificate.
- Helps to create a logical, defensible, and EEOC-compliant system for matching clients to job openings in the community.
- Track the success of clients in improving job skills, and the resulting impact on their hiring and quality of careers.
For Employers, Certificate-Key:
- Allows access to lists of prospective employees who have certified skills.
- Aggregates the available lists of prospective employees from multiple training providers.
- Find potential employees in their area who have earned a work readiness certificate or who meet the requirements of their job profiles.
- Post information concerning careers and jobs available in their organizations.
The Certificate-Key system will provide a low-cost means for managing your community's efforts for using WorkKeys, KeyTrain, and work readiness certificates. Help your community achieve the goal of your workforce development efforts – to find a successful match between your individual clients and work opportunities!
KeyTrain and Certificate-Key are trademarks of Thinking Media.
WorkKeys is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc.
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